NEW HAVEN, Conn — The city of New Haven is creating its own land bank, where it can quickly buy and rehabilitate properties. This is after the Board of Alders voted in favor of the idea this week. The concept is something Hartford and Waterbury are already doing.
“There’s a little bit more of a process that we need to go through before this starts to get active. But, we’re anxious to get this moving,” said Mayor Justin Elicker (D) New Haven.
The land bank is something Elicker and his team have been pushing for, to try to combat the housing crisis the city and the country are facing.
“The land bank will give us this tool to be more of an active participant in the marketplace,” Elicker said. “And when there’s a property that we’re interested in for a variety of different reasons, we can act quickly to acquire it.”
Right now, the city has to go through a long process to purchase properties. It starts out like any other potential sale, with an offer and a negotiation. Then, it’s presented to the Board of Alders. The BOA then sends it to the committee, and the committee reviews it and decides whether to move forward with it.
At this time, since it’s a public sale, the general public can also see how much the city is offering and look to out-bid the city. Then, the proposal goes through two readings by the BOA (two meetings) before a final vote happens. Elicker said the whole thing takes a minimum of two if not three or four months.
“That is just not a way for us to acquire properties that could be of high interest to our city,” Elicker said.
With a land bank in place, the normal initial acquisition process plays out and then, it’ll go to the board, which can act quickly. The land bank board will be made up of seven different members including Elicker, leaders of different city departments, and other members appointed by the BOA.
“The people that are the decision makers are actively at the table, knowing what’s going on the city side as well,” Elicker said.
As for the focus of the land bank, Elicker said it’s all about affordable housing and strategic properties.
“We may acquire some properties that are strategically valuable to a neighborhood or certain area in order to improve that area,” Elicker said.
However, the city still has some time before the land bank is up and running. The board needs to be appointed and an executive director needs to be selected before they can officially buy any properties.
In the meantime, two other cities, Hartford and Waterbury, are already operating land banks.
“We identified 13 neighborhoods within the city just to give me an idea of, what does it really look like, you know? And what kind of information do we need? In order to start addressing blight and distressed properties,” said Nancy MacMillan, Executive Director of the Waterbury Land Bank Authority, as she showed FOX61 the maps she and her staff member have been working on.
Nancy got her start at the land bank in July of 2022. Since then, they’ve been collecting data and honing in on areas in the city that have been untouched for quite some time.
“It’s all very new, which is exciting because we are creating everything that we’re doing,” MacMillan said.
On top of brightening up blighted properties, the city will be looking for places to put parking lots and community gardens, and expanding Waterbury’s tree canopy.
“We’re trying to promote homeownership within some of these homes that have been left abandoned, so that’s the first thing,” MacMillan said.
Soon, the Waterbury Land Bank is making its first purchase, which will be converting 10 different city parcels into tax-generating properties once again.
“The land bank is an economic development tool to help the city,” MacMillan said. “I can’t see a downside to it, to tell you the truth. We’re really excited to be a part of the renaissance that’s coming in now, with the land bank.”
Over the next year, MacMillan said she wants to hire one or two more staff members to join her two-person team (including her). She also works with a board of seven members, made up of business professionals, a deputy police chief, and nonprofit leaders in the community.
Eventually, MacMillan said she has plans to create a coalition with the other land banks in the state to push for more funding from the federal government.
Visit the Waterbury Land Bank website if you’re interested in getting involved.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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